Nope. The Academy of Motion Pitcures Arts and Sciences awarded its Best Picture Oscar to The Artist in 2011, which was summarily a 'silent' movie.
Silent Films - 2008 was released on: USA: 2008
In a silent room
Black & White came first. There are a few films where the frames were hand-colored.
The silent films were invented in the 1915's.
Really, all of the early ones. Silent films were the only films available for a long time. The new media of film fascinated many people when it was first introduced.
Nosferatu.
Yes
In silent films, there was no sound, so the cinema had a piano or organ player playing live in the cinema.
No, Hitchcock made non-speaking cameos in many of his films but was never an actor in silent films.
Yes, there were actually many fires that destroyed many silent films. In the early age of films, the projectors were subject to extreme heat and often caught on fire and damaged the films.
Hollywood
The Tramp